


Playground Righteous

by ItsMarmageddon



Series: Mae and friends try to survive highschool [1]
Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Crime, Crimes, Fluff, Gen, I trigger tag everything in the notes at the beginning of the chapter, Illustrated, NITW is an underrated game and i'm mad, No Romance, This is completely self indulgent, Three long ass chapters, and an epilogue that I may or may not include, bc it's poorly written, can breaking the law be considered fluff??, its REALLY there the last chapter, its still there tho don't worry, lots of crimes, minimal angst, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-25 14:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14380584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsMarmageddon/pseuds/ItsMarmageddon
Summary: Sophomore year was a good one for Casey Hartley and his two and only friends. But good years in Possum Springs aren’t much to speak of. But Casey's managed to stay optimistic, he even manages to find the good when the news comes out there's been a mysterious and brutal murder in the woods by his home.





	1. CHAPTER ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER TAGS: There's not much here as far as trigger tags go. First chapter is pretty mild, but there is a brief description of a pretty gnarly murder towards the end of the chapter so be wary of that.
> 
> First thing I've written that I've actually finished i'm so proud of myself. But also do keep in mind: A lot of this is just me getting out my head canons and I have textual evidence to support most of my head canons but some are just completely wacky so bare with me. ALSO I personally wrote this imagining everyone humanized but I tried to write it so it could be read either way.  
> New chapters will come out every three-ish days meaning the next chapter will go up Monday the 23rd.

## THE ROTTEN WALLS OF MY HOME

Sophomore year was built on the slogan of “please, God, just be better than last year”. A goal that shouldn’t be too hard to hit considering Mae Borowski had hit rock bottom of her life Freshman year (-And the rock bottom of Andy Cullens skull. How he was alive today was anyone's guess).  
  
She was fourteen and naive then. But now-as her granddad put it-she was a year older and a year wiser. She was only allowed to go back to school after missing the rest of freshman year then making the promise to be a better student and person.  
  
But old habits die hard, and whatever Casey Hartley said, was law.  
  
It was a hot day so when Casey said he found the “world's greatest swimming spot” it was a drop everything and go kind of scenario.  
  
Gregg was precariously balanced on the edge of the rock, hands up ready to defend himself as Casey did laterals around him trying to find an opening to tackle him down from.  
  
Any time the crew was left unsupervised, they usually ended upon the ground at some point. It was good sport, and an easy way to poke fun while simultaneously annoying the opponent to tears.  
  
“Step down, Hartley, you couldn’t pry my cold dead body off this rock.” Gregg said, trying to keep himself from laughing, but clearly dead serious.  
  
“You pansy, get in the water or pay the price.” Casey grinned and pointed a challenging finger at him.  
  
“Over my cold. Dead. Body.” Gregg retorted.  
  
Casey charged him, and Gregg stuck out one of his long scrawny legs, and kicked him square in the chest down to the mud. But Casey was back on his feet and this time grabbed Greggs ankle when he tried to kick him away, and with a firm tug the two were on the swampy ground, wrestling.  
  
Eventually Gregg managed to get an arm around Casey's midsection and fling him off long enough for him to stand back up. Gregg announced victory as Casey sat forward, covered in mud but laughing like it was the funniest thing he’d ever experienced.  
  
A moment later they both heard the battle cry of the only one of the three not caked in mud as she ripped out from behind the bushes.  
  
Before any of them could comprehend what was happening, Mae had grabbed Casey by the collar and Gregg by the hip and sent all three of them tumbling over the edge of the hill.  
  
They freefell for a moment before breaking the surface of murky pond water. Then one by one, they resurfaced.  
  
Mae pumped her fists into the air crying out “I am the swamp champion! Champion of the swamp!” as Casey and Gregg resurfaced, gasping for enough air to laugh with.  
  
“No, you cheated!” Casey said through his laugh. A horrible, raspy sound due to his poor habit of chain smoking, but it was familiar enough noise to be comforting to Mae and Gregg.  
  
“I think you mean a tactical advantage.”  
  
“Aka being twice the size of both Casey and I?” Gregg muttered, his feelings clearly not as hurt as his words would imply.  
  
The three were in old T-shirts or tank tops and shorts. It was midsummer in Possum Springs and that meant everything was hot and sticky and generally unpleasant to be alive in.  
  
The nearest public swimming pool was a six hour drive to Bright Harbor away and few people in Possum Springs even had the gas money to go that far let alone get into any community center. So the town-as per usual-made do with what it had.  
  
“Made do” to Casey Hartley was apparently, sneaking through the woods past the glass factory to a section of the forest that was recently fenced off for “public safety”. Beyond the gate there was a large cavity in the ground that flooded every time it rained. It was the perfect breeding ground for frogs and mosquitoes that would invade Possum Springs later in the month, but the water was cool and the location was private. That was good enough for them.  
  
Gregg found a large rock to beach himself up on, and shook his head, spraying water from his damp hair onto Casey and Mae. The subjects of the attack put up their arms to protect their eyes and mouths as they tried not to double over laughing.  
  
“You’re both assholes, by the way.” Gregg reminded them, though the smile on his face betrayed his words.  
  
“What’re you gonna do, call your mom on us?” Casey prodded, submerging his head underwater for a moment, and popping up again near Greggs rock.  
  
Mae smacked the water next to Casey causing a large wave to hit him “Dude, don’t even joke about that, Greggs mom honestly scares me.”  
  
“Hell yeah! Mama Lee gonna eff you two up! If Jen doesn’t get her hands on you first!” Gregg teased, swinging his legs over the rock to dangle into the water.  
  
“I wouldn’t be against that.” Casey joked.  
  
“Dude, don’t be gross, that’s my cousin.” Gregg squinted and stuck an accusatory finger at Casey.  
  
“I’m just joking, dude, chill.” Casey said, swatting Greggs hand away.  
  
“Yeah sure you are, you masochist.” Mae poked.  
  
“I’m not a masochist! You’re gross!” Casey splashed Mae the second the words exited her mouth, then gave Gregg the same treatment when he started laughing which initiated a small splash war that ended with Mae speaking up.  
  
“Speaking of Jen, is she still chauphering you around, or did you get your permit.” Mae asked.  
  
Gregg scrunched up his shoulders and side eyed her “No, dude, I haven’t even studied for it. Out of the three of us, you’re the most likely to get your permit.”  
  
“My moms been kinda on my ass about it. She tries so hard to make us a normal family. Ha ha, eat shit, Bess.” Casey said.  
  
“Your mom is nice though.” Gregg said.  
  
“Yeah. Whatever.” Casey shrugged.  
  
“God forbid you have a family who loves you, Casey.” Mae laughed.  
  
“Oh sweet God we are not talking about family. There is not much good conversation to come from there.”  
  
“Unless it’s about Mama Lee.” Mae replied.  
  
“Unless it’s about Mama Lee, I’m certain that woman has killed at least three people.” Casey said.  
  
Gregg shrugged, “Probably. Last time dad showed up at the house it was like midnight and he was drunk off his ass, begging Mama to take him back.”  
  
“What she do?”  
  
“Pulled a crossbow on him. Jen pulled me up stairs but i’m pretty sure she shot him in the leg. It was pretty metal.” Gregg said. Conversation about Greggs dad was pretty casual at this point. More than once the man had tried to kidnap Gregg, thinking he was the only person who could raise him right. And every time it happened, Mama Lee bust down the doors before the police did- crossbow in hand.  
  
Casey laughed and pumped his fists “hell yeah Mama Lee! I can’t believe she still uses crossbows to hunt.”  
  
“She says modern guns are cheating. Taught both me and Jen how to use one.” Gregg mentioned.  
  
“You gotta teach us at some point.” Mae insisted.  
  
“One day i’ll get around to it.” Gregg waved a hand dismissively.  
  
Casey snorted and shook his head, then leaned back and floated on the water surface. There was a moment of silence.  
  
Mae started laughing, “You look like a dead body, dude.”  
  
“Ha ha, hell yeah, sick!” Casey replied, grinning again.  
  
“And that’s why people think we’re actually clinically insane.” Gregg said.  
  
The three of them went on like that for a good hour. Teasing each other, throwing mud around, and sending a wave of water at anyone who crossed the line. It was the kind of thing they did frequently.  
  
Unsurprisingly, though, Gregg was the first to want to get out. He had a thing against being wet that he never did explain well. But eventually he slipped awkwardly back into the water from his perch up on the rock just long enough to wade his way to the almost liquid clay shore.  
  
Mae and Casey had found clumps of moss and grass that they were throwing at each other. An activity interrupted by Gregg yelping “Oh holy shit,” jumping and slipping on the mud, landing flat on his ass.  
  
Casey laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d seen in the past month. “Dude, are you okay?” But after a moment of silence, Casey's laugh stilled and he perked up. “Okay now seriously. Are you okay?”  
  
Gregg paused. “...Hey, Mae, you have no impulse control, you wanna touch this...gross thing?”  
  
“Oh, Greggory, rest assured I always, want to touch the gross thing.” Mae pushed her legs against the rock Gregg had previously situated himself on and shot off through the water until she reached the shore, soft dirt squished under her bare feet. Then under Caseys’ as he followed her close behind.  
  
The two crested the muddy incline as Gregg brought himself up to his feet and pointed at a shovel stuck in the ground.  
  
It looked like it could’ve been an ancient relic. Its wood was long since faded to grey, while the iron tip was rusted brown. Though, most of the brown couldn’t be seen through the red-orange splatter of dried blood across it.  
  
Mae walked up to it and grabbed its handle, yanking it out of the ground with one rough movement.  
  
“Oh, yuck, I think there’s chunks of meat on this.” Mae scrunched up her nose and tapped the shovel against a tree, sending bits of what appeared to be flesh flying to the ground.  
  
“Dude, that’s definitely a murder weapon.” Casey said with more interest than fear.  
  
“Dude!” Mae concurred, her eyes lighting up.  
  
“Wait wait wait, I wanna swing it.” Gregg said, running up to Mae and attempting to grab it from her.  
  
“Not before I do.” Mae retorted, pushing him away with one hand. This immediately initiated a wrestling match that was much more upright than the one Gregg had with Casey.  
  
After a moment Casey perked up again “Wait, hey, dudes. Stop stop stop!” Casey ran up to them, swatting them until they untangled and Mae dropped the shovel.  
  
“Hey, man, what? I almost had it!” Gregg threw his hands up.  
  
“Shh!” Casey hissed. Sure enough they all heard a sound. There was the telltale sound of a car approaching, parking, and two car doors opened and closed.  
  
The three kids glanced at each other panickedly, then quickly dove back into the pond as two adults half walked, half slid down the hill.  
  
With just their eyes above the water, the three kids could easily make out the people. A tall, thin man and a plumper woman. Both in police uniforms. The tall man looked like he should’ve been incharge, but the woman was at the front of the pack.  
  
At this point, Mae could recognize Aunt Molly better than she could recognize her own mother. Mae found herself and her team running from Molly much more often than Candy, so she concluded it was a natural instinct.  
  
“Damn these hills. Couldn’t we come back here later? When everything wasn’t still wet from the rain we got yesterday?” the man complained, “i’m ruining my shoes out here.”  
  
“With all due respect, sir, we’re in the same damn shoes. I’m equally as uncomfortable. But we can’t just leave evidence at the crime scene.” Molly growled through gritted teeth, then added much quieter “I can not believe this is something I have to tell this dysfunctional station.”  
  
Mae only knew Molly to have one expression; angry. She always had the space between her brows scrunched up and her mouth and teeth so tightly pressed together you could see the indent in her cheeks. Granddad always tells her she’ll lose all her teeth like that. He was clearly joking but, he sounded a little sad and Mae never knew why.  
  
The man raised his head, “Watch your words, officer, that is my station you’re speaking of.”  
  
Molly shook her head and growled out a quiet and very passive aggressive “Sorry.”  
  
The three watched them walk right up to the shovel. The man picked it up and started to leave, but Molly just stared at the ground where it had been.  
  
“Was it like that yesterday?” Molly asked.  
  
“Yes, Molly, it was. Its hotter than hell out here, can we leave before I sweat through my uniform?” the man replied.  
  
“No, look,” pointed at the shovel tip shaped hole in the ground where Mae had torn the shovel from its original spot in the ground.  
  
The man looked at it shrugged and said, “It probably got blown over in the rains yesterday.”  
  
Casey leaned over and whispered, “We should probably go.” Mae and Gregg nodded. But trying to swim silently was very difficult and very slow. Then came the realization that their only way out was to the shore and up the hill since they had jumped off the cliff to get into the pond in the first place. Casey hissed a record breakingly quiet “oh shit.”  
  
“Sir, I think we need to seriously assess the work ethic and thoroughness of the police work around here.” Molly snapped back with poorly hidden irritation.  
  
“I believe that is my job, Molly. I haven’t seen a problem with it yet, but i’ll get back to you when I do.” The man replied, clearly aware of what Molly had been implying.  
  
The two had a tense stare off for a moment before the man once again asked, “Can we go?”  
  
Mae made a motion to go underwater and Casey and Gregg followed her as she dove underwater and headed in the general direction of the part of shore farthest away from the officers.  
  
When she felt the slick clay of the shore in front of her, Mae dared to poke her head out, and started to climb out of the lake.  
  
“Sure, thing.” Molly growled. The tension between them was so strong, Mae was almost surprised Molly didn’t punch him between the eyes right there.  
  
The two turned around to start back up the hill just in time to make direct eye contact with Mae as she lead the two boys up the hill.  
  
They stood there for a moment, mouth agape, before Molly went “oh goddammit.” And started after them.  
  
After that, stealth was hastily thrown out the window. The three tore up the hill, and through the bushes. They left their shoes behind them-no time for that.  
  
In seconds they had rounded up the gravel bend, tripping over their own sore feet, and vaulted up the chain link fence in a few quick bounds.  
  
Gregg was quick to get to his bike, and Mae hopped on the back of his while Casey grabbed his own.  
  
The bikes were near and dear to the team. Greggs bike being one of the few things his mother managed to afford to buy him as a proper gift for Longest Night a few years back.  
  
And while these bikes may have been important members of the family, they weren’t much on speed, and also Molly had a car. They had barely even made it past the gate when the police car skidded around and out in front of them, forcing the trio to a stop.  
  
“Oooh goddammit.” Casey threw his head back and groaned.

 

Molly had driven them directly to the local police department. The department wasn’t much to speak of. As far as any of them could tell, Molly was one of the only cops in town that cared at all about actual justice and not just getting a job done with.  
  
They were all sitting on a couch in a room that was the same as an interrogation room, but more decorated. Mae had job shadowed her aunt once for a business class at school and Molly had told her about how some people needed to be questioned, but didn’t respond well to the normal interrogation rooms. So they took them here to make it seem more like a casual conversation. Other times they just needed to be held there.  
  
“I have so many regrets.” Mae sighed, slowly picking some dried mud off her arm.  
  
“Preach it, sista.” Casey hissed, pulling a bit of grass out from behind his ear.  
  
A younger man in a uniform made his way into the room. He waved a hand and gave a pleasant “hello, kiddos, could you three maybe help answer some questions here?”  
  
Three pairs of eyes squinted at him. He shifted uncomfortably and laughed awkwardly to break the silence.  
  
“...i’ll be brief, I promise. All I need to know is, if you happened to have found a shovel out there.”  
  
Gregg and Casey both looked at Mae, sitting in the middle. She threw her hands up.  
  
“Woah, why are we looking at me? Gregg found it!” Mae spat, defensively.  
  
“You touched it.” Casey said.  
  
“Gregg told me to touch it! Hell- Gregg wanted to swing it!”  
  
“But I didn’t actually do it.” Gregg assured.  
  
“You’re all dead to me.” Mae narrowed her eyes, glaring accusingly back and forth between them.  
  
The officer became keenly aware that none of them were taking this very seriously. He opened his mouth to say something else but Molly walked in and just pointed at the door, and the man was out of the room.  
  
“Damn, you taking to intimidation? Or does your face just kinda have that effect on people.” Casey grinned. He made antagonizing the police into a sport.  
  
Molly crossed her arms and quietly glared at him for a moment. The thing about that was that the one thing Casey hated was backing down from a challenge. To him that’s all she was doing, and he was one of the few people who could look her dead in the eyes and not falter.  
  
“Lee, Hartley, I called your parents. They’ll be here soon, so. Did you see anything that might be interesting to us while you were illegally out there?” Molly asked eventually.  
  
“Yeah, we saw a unicorn and danced with fairies. Interesting stuff.” Mae leaned on the table, trying to mimic Casey's confidence.  
  
Molly rolled her eyes and sighed. She started to say something else but Casey talked over the top of her until she stopped to listen to him ask “So did someone die or what?”  
  
Molly hesitated. She considered changing the subject again, but thought better of it. “Do any of you know who Elliot Marshall is?”  
  
“I’ve literally never heard that name before.”  
  
“Well, now you’ll never know him. He was murdered three nights ago but we found his body yesterday with a shovel sticking out of his stomach.”  
  
“Sick.” Gregg muttered.  
  
“Was he like- gutted?” Mae scrunched up her nose at the mental image.  
  
“...I guess that’s one way to put it.” Molly clearly wasn’t sure if this was a thing she should be talking about.  
  
“So. Synopsis; someone gutted a kid with a shovel in the woods?” Casey asked.  
  
“Well Marshall wasn’t exactly a kid. He was about nineteen and a highschool dropout who acted like he was a forty year old hick.” Molly clarified.  
  
“That’s metal as hell.” Casey said. Gregg and Mae exchanged exhausted glances. Casey had a tendency to say the worst possible things at the worst possible times and not even flinch like he made a poor decision. It had gotten him into several fights at school and was part of the reason Mae was closer friends with Gregg than with him.  
  
Molly narrowed her eyes and glared “Evisceration of someone not too much older than you in the local forest not far from your house is cool to you?”  
  
Casey shrugged absently.  
  
“...Yeah, so if you kids have anything that could maybe help-” Another interruption came as from the room over there was the sound of doors being slammed open followed by several loud curses.  
  
“Moms here.” Gregg snickered.  
  
Molly sighed and through her famous gritted teeth said, “I’ll be right back.”  
  
The second the door clicked behind her, Casey did a full ninety degree turn on the couch, with the widest grin on his face. “Dudes, do you know what this means?”  
  
“That my moms gonna curse me out in several different languages in front of the whole police station?” Gregg said with a slight shift.  
  
“No! I mean about the dead dude!”  
  
“That I touched a shovel that was used to eviscerate a dude?” Mae tried.  
  
“You’re both bad at this.” Casey sighed, then took a deep breath and leaned in, “My brother told me about the last time there was a murder in Possum Springs-it was some stoner kid from the highschool and it was pretty gnarly and it kinda became a big deal. He said that when he learned about it, he went on a crime spree and vandalized ninety percent of the town eventually they caught him for all the stuff but because there was this huge murder case, they just gave him a warning so they could focus on it. He got in like- zero trouble. I’m pretty sure it’s not even on his record?”  
  
Gregg and Mae exchanged glances “What are you implying?” Mae asked, trying to keep the grin on her face from showing how excited she was for the answer.  
  
“Well, okay, what if we combined my brothers crime spree with that one new movie coming out that commercials are for everywhere-The Purge or whatever. So we just vandalize the shit out of everyone who’s done us dirty. Take justice into our own hands, and if we get caught then we won’t get into near as much trouble as usual.” Casey was smiling from ear to ear. The way Casey said things always made them seem like a good idea.  
  
Not long after that, the door opened and the woman known around town only as Mama Lee stomped in.  
  
She was easily the strongest woman Mae had ever laid eyes on. She must’ve been in her fifties, with shoulder length dark brown-red hair greying at the roots and stress wrinkles making her look far older than she was. She wore strictly sleeveless shirts and always had a cigarette in her mouth.  
  
Gregg promised that despite what it looked like on surface level, he and his mom got along really really well. In fact, she was one of the first adults to know he was gay, and she was very accepting, which was a pleasant surprise for everybody.  
  
Mama Lee walked straight up to Gregg, hesitated a moment to check him over to make sure he was okay before grabbing him by the ear and yanking him to his feet. She started yelling in Spanish at him, with only a retort once or twice from Gregg. They could be heard arguing all the way down the hall and into the street.  
  
Not long after, Molly led in Mrs. Hartley. She was known to be sweet, but constantly stressed.  
  
She was making a genuine attempt to scrub clean her family's name of crime, smoking, and addiction to every drug across the board. If you ask her how that’s going she’ll tell you “really well” but ask anyone else in the family, they’ll throw their head back and laugh at you.  
  
Mrs. Hartley was a beautiful woman, but she looked incredibly fed up. How Caseys parents stayed married was a wonder of the world.  
  
“I’ll text you about crime plans later, ‘kay?” Casey whispered as Molly and Mrs. Hartley finished up talking.  
  
Mae gave him a thumbs up and as they disappeared down the hall Mae came to the realization that Molly was still in the room, lingering by the door. She was just staring at Mae with that neutral face.  
  
Sighing, Mae shifted to look at her. She had no reason to make an attempt to look as confident as Casey anymore.  
  
Molly rubbed her temples and shook her head before walking around the table and sitting down on the couch next to Mae.  
  
“Mae, why do you hang out with those two?” For the first time today, she didn’t sound angry. Just tired.  
  
Mae shrugged absently.  
  
“Mae.” Molly said, more sturnley.  
  
“You’re a police officer, gather some clues and take a goddamn guess.” Mae hissed.  
  
Molly nodded like this was confirming a thought of hers.  
  
“I just want you to know that-”  
  
“Oh, please don’t start.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Mom pulls the same shit on me. The ‘oh you can talk to us, sweetie’ shtick is really getting on my nerves. I’m not sick, I made a mistake and over half the town calls me ‘killer’ now and i’m sick of that! Gregg and Casey have punched kids in the hallways who say that shit to me. I saw Casey pull a knife on a kid once! Those two and granddad are the only people who seem to actually care about me and aren’t just saying some super scripted sounding bullshit that is probably straight out of one of the High School Musical movies so they can figure out why I did it even though i’ve told them, the school, and the whole fuckin world that I. Don’t. Know.”  
  
There was silence between them for a minute. Molly tried to say something a few times but stopped herself every time until they were both just sitting there listening to the clock tick.  
  
“Can I go home now?” Mae grumbled, standing up.  
  
“Yeah. Yes. Okay.” Molly stumbled through the words. She put a hand on her nieces shoulder, ushering her out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, pardon my wacky head canons. I have no textual evidence Gregg his Hispanic or even that Spain exists in the NITW canon but eh, this is all self indulgent creative writing and I had a fun time writing it so. 
> 
> Oh hey, if you're interested in seeing more from me/my artwork you can check out my art account on Tumblr @ http://autumnmountainsart.tumblr.com/ or on Instagram @ ItsMarTime. I know I have vastly different usernames for everything. I swear I am the same person and not some self replicating gremlin.


	2. CHAPTER TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER TAGS: Brief parent problems, A grotesque amount of smoking, Heavy drug mention/implication but drugs never actually appear in the chapter, lots of vandalism (if you're bothered by crime, you should not be here for the rest of the fic tbh), brief violence/blood at the end of the chapter.

## SELF PROCLAIMED WORLD WONDER

It had taken Mae several showers to get all the pond mud and muck off of her. Though if asked, she’d say she wasn’t regretting any of the previous day.  
  
Maes parents weren’t happy with her. But that seemed to be a common trend in the house as of late. The only person who still bothered to at least sound like they cared was granddad.  
  
He was an old man with hair that was more grey than the usual black the rest of the family had. Granddad had long since lost his job and house and now slept on the couch in the living room. Candy would often say that if he didn’t do most of the cleaning and upkeep of the house, she’d kick him out.  
  
Probably because granddad was a little crazy. He got jittery from time to time, and would occasionally do or say something that was a grim reminder that he wasn’t totally sane. He suffered from dementia and occasional bouts of psychosis that luckily seldom ever became violent.  
  
Whenever Mae would ask about it, Stan would simply reply with “he’s just not all there all the time,” he looked like it physically hurt him to say it outloud.  
  
Mae might’ve been a fifteen year old in high school but everytime granddad asked if she wanted a story at night, she’d never turn him down. She figured to some degree it was therapeutic to him and if her parents asked why she still listened to him, that’s what she’d tell them. Mae had taken some drastic steps to make sure nobody outside of her direct family knew she was still told bedtime stories.  
  
Everyone in the house had a job except for granddad and Mae, so when she got home from school it was usually just him and her. Dad was gone in the mornings (and mom was too only on Sundays for early church services) and mom was gone late at night for church. But dinner was the time where the whole family was home and in the same room together.  
  
Granddad, Stan and Mae were all on the couch. They only sat at the table on religious holidays, which were the only times Candy made them say blessings before eating since neither granddad nor Stan ever did that as kids.  
  
Currently, Granddad was trying to steal some oven baked fries off of Stans plate and though his attempts were unsuccessful, all of the fries that fell off his plate were caught by Mae and immediately eaten.  
  
Eventually Candy came in and smacked them both with a dish towel. “Can’t we have one normal dinner?”  
  
“It’s not my fault this whole house is turning against me!” Stan proclaimed.  
  
“Oh please, sweetie, this whole house turned against you years ago.” Candy reassured, sending the whole couch into fits of giggles.  
  
Mae sat up on the couch and called over to her mother before she disappeared back into the kitchen “Oh hey, mom, I forgot to ask earlier; can I go hang out at Casey's house tomorrow night? Greggs gonna be there too.”  
  
“Sure, sweetheart, as long as Mrs. Hartley is there. Bess is so sweet. How long are you staying?”  
  
“Overnight?”  
  
“Oh.” Candy shifted from foot to foot for a moment, “Honey, maybe some other time-”  
  
“Oh come on, mom, it’s one night! Bess will be there! It’ll be fine!” Mae said, jumping on the end of Candys sentence.  
  
“Well, Mae. I do like Bess but she’s got far less stamina than you and your friends do. You three can get... rambunctious at night.”  
  
“A-k-a, you don’t trust us at night.”  
  
Candy sighed loudly “If you want me to be blunt about it, no. No I don’t trust you at night.” Candy said through gritted teeth, trying to keep her cool.  
  
“Bah, let her go, Candy.” Granddad waved his hand, not even bothering to turn around on the couch to face her, “If she gets into trouble, she gets into trouble. That’s how kids learn ‘round here.”  
  
Candy knew that was a death trap. She clearly didn’t want to let Mae go, but since granddad said she should go it’d be her word against his. Candy had a quick wit and generally knew what to say. But arguing with granddad was like yelling at a brick wall. Those two could go at it for hours and never come up with any kind of resolve.  
  
Mae exchanged a nervous glance with her dad as they awaited if Candy would retort and start a verbal war or not.  
  
After an eternity, Candy sighed loudly, “Fine!” she exclaimed. Mae silently celebrated, then ran around the couch to give her mom a hug, before bolting up the stairs.  
  
Casey had already messaged her by the time she got her computer opened on her bed.  
  
“Whatd your mom say? Or r Gregg and i gonna have to pull this one on our own?” the message read.  
  
“Dude, u know i’d probably just sneak out even if she said no.” Mae replied quickly.  
  
“Oh hell yes. This is gonna be in the history books.”  
  
“Should I bring my Crime Gear(TM)”  
  
“Why is that a question u have to ask??? Yes?”  
  
“Kay but how much of my Crime Gear(TM) should I bring? Like how far are we taking this?”  
  
“Oh all the way, B. Im thinking 90% vandalization but Greggs bringing some stuff for lock picking just in case. Also, btw ive got a literal physical hit list printed out.”  
  
“Oh shit. Do share.”  
  
“Buckle tf up, at the top of the list weve got Mr penderson because come on. Then theres the hudsons, the carsons, the Yakovich and then finally. The almighty hiest of the centry. The scriggins.”  
  
“Oh shit!!! We’re gonna go after the Scriggins? Didn’t the last time we try anything even on that side of town Mr. Scriggins threatened to shoot us if he saw us again?”  
  
“Yep. Thats why we gotta get em.”  
  
“I salute ur brave soul, Hartley.”  
  
“Lmao. See u tomorrow?”  
  
“U kno it. Ttyl”  
  
Mae closed out of the chatbox and checked to make sure she had no other messages. Gregg hadn’t texted her. Probably saving conversation until tomorrow. Above his icon, though, sat one that constantly teased her.  
  
Mae wished she could figure out a way to delete Bea Santellos chat icon from her Chattrbox account. Part of her wondered if she kept it there as some sort of attack on herself every time she opened her computer.  
  
She quickly forced all of her many regrets regarding Bea out of her head and closed her computer, sliding it under her bed. Mae kicked off her shoes and slumped down under the sheets of her bed.

  


Generally speaking, Mae walked everywhere she went. The Borowski family only owned one car, and in the morning it was occupied by Candy whose joints wouldn’t allow her easy access to the stairs leading to her job up the hill at the church. In the afternoon the car was occupied by Stan who worked at the glass factory on the other side of town (he’d come home late at night dirty, exhausted and smelling like ash and smoke. More than once Mae had overheard granddad arguing with him about getting a less dangerous job, an argument they had all the way back when Stan worked in mining when Mae was still a toddler).  
  
There was a small gap of time between the two jobs where the car was unoccupied, but it was typically quickly taken by granddad who would drive around town. Nobody really knew where he went and simply chalked it up to just one of his many actions that were purely impulsive.  
  
It was just past midday by the time Mae met Gregg in the long gravel driveway of the Hartleys home. His cousin Jen had just let him out of the car when Mae walked up.  
  
Jen was easily the prettiest person in Possum Springs. She had curled red hair, dark freckles, and a knack for fashion. It was no wonder why Casey had a blatant crush on her despite the fact that she was three years older than any of them.  
According to Gregg, Mama Lee had adopted his cousin into the family after one summer Gregg spent at his uncle's where he got beat. That’s how they discovered Jen was being abused pretty regularly. Jen was 12 at the time and Mama Lee knew that she wouldn’t be any safer in foster care or with any family member other than her. After Mama Lee adopted her, Jen and Gregg became more like a close sister and brother.  
  
The Lee family was incredibly poor. Last time they went to Greggs house, Casey asked how they still owned the house. Mama Lee replied that she survived on cigarettes, wine, and spite. Which didn’t really answer the question.  
  
But Jen was nice enough for someone in the Lee family. She hung her head out the side of the old pick up to talk. “Hey, Mae!” Jen waved hello “You here to mediate the boys?”  
  
“I’m just here to make sure they don’t run each other off a cliff.” Mae replied.  
  
Gregg scoffed “Okay, sure, no trouble for Mae hm? What’s in the bag then, Borowski?” Gregg squinted accusingly at the duffel bag over Maes shoulder.  
  
“...snacks” Mae squinted back.  
  
Jen just rolled her eyes “Holy shit, i’m not forty years old, Mae. I know you’ve got your old softball bat in there. I seriously don’t care, either. Just don’t murder anyone while ransacking the town, killer!” She clearly didn’t understand that the whole ‘killer’ thing was an insult, so Mae couldn't be mad at her for that. A moment later she turned the car around and started to leave before stopping and hanging out the window to yell “Also if you kids get into any real trouble, use the landline!”  
  
“Jen! Leave!” Gregg shook his fist at her and she flipped him off as she drove off.  
  
“Remind me again that your family is stable.”  
  
“Stable is definitely not the word to use here. But I promise we’re all friendly to each other in our own effed up way.” Gregg faltered a little bit when Mae didn’t change her expression and continued, “No seriously, i’d run through a wall of fire for Jen and she’d do the same for me. We just don’t have to remind each other of it so we just make fun of each other instead.” Gregg shrugged as they walked up the hill together.  
  
“D’aw!” Mae paused. “I think?”  
  
“Yeah we’re adorable, whatever. I’m more interested in if you actually literally brought your softball bat.” Gregg said, plucking the strap of the bag.  
  
“Dude, of course I did. I feel naked without it. I also brought gloves so I can be swingin’ all night long. What about you?” Mae asked gesturing at the much smaller bag he brought with him. It was literally a grocery store plastic bag that had been stuffed with a change of black clothes and various miscellaneous items.  
  
“The boss told me to bring lock picks, so i’ve got that. I also brought an extra knife. Just in case.”  
  
“Wait- an extra knife? How many knives do you have?”  
  
“At the moment three. Four if you include the one in the bag.”  
  
“Gregg!”  
  
“What! It’s Possum Springs in the middle of the night! Plus we’re literally going to ransack the Scriggins home. I would not be surprised if he actually pulls a gun on us.”  
  
“So you’re going to stab him? Gregg I can envision many ways that won’t work!”  
  
“Nobody's pulling a gun on us!” Casey stepped out onto the creaky old porch to yell at them, “My god, you guys are loud.”  
  
He was in a black tank top with some metal band Mae had never heard of printed on the front. He looked wrong without his signature Demontower sweatshirt on, but it was too hot to wear that without getting immediate heatstroke.  
  
Casey took the cigarette he had in his mouth out and blew a puff of smoke. “I checked with my dad and he says that him and ‘the boys’-which includes Mr. Scriggins himself-are gonna go down to the bar and drink until dawn.”  
  
“What about Steve?” Mae asked. Steve had been trying to get into a fight with Mae since seventh grade. A habit that had only intensified since he watched her bust open Andy Cullens head with the very bat she had in her bag right now (she had long since cleaned it and left it to hang out with the clothes on the line for it to sun bleach).  
  
“Steve Scriggins is no doubt going to be hanging out with his stoner friends.” Casey said “it’s a Friday night, they’re gonna be up and high until they pass out by the tracks probably around 2 AM. I can guarantee it.”  
  
“Dude, why did you plan this so thoroughly?” Gregg laughed.  
  
“Contrary to popular belief, I actually don’t want to get a stomach full of buckshot tonight.” Casey grinned and stuck his cigarette back in his mouth, waving them inside.  
  
The Hartley household was a mess. Four people lived in the house, but it looked like the number was closer to twenty people and a wild animal. There were glass bottles on the coffee table and crushed beer cans across the floor and in one corner a cigarette tray had been upturned. Shirts and shoes were thrown around on the furniture, and the whole place stunk.  
  
Mae had the cleanest house out of the three of them, but that was just because she had a granddad who impulsivley cleaned things and was left home alone a lot. But she was used to the general dirtiness of her friends homes. The one thing that she couldn’t stand about the Hartley home was that it all smelled like smoke since three out of the four people living there were chainsmokers. Greggs mom would at least go outside to smoke. But in the Hartley household it was just a “smoke when and where you feel like it” sort of thing.  
  
“Where is half of your family, dude?” Gregg noticed that the only person in the house was Caseys dad. He barely looked up at the three when they came in.  
  
“Oh, yeah. I did tell my mom that Bess would be here the whole time, which is the only way I got her to let me come. That and grandad.” Mae mentioned.  
  
“I need to meet your granddad again, Mae, that man is the shit.” Gregg added quickly.  
  
Casey laughed, and blew out another puff of smoke to the side to make sure none of the crew got caught in it “My bro got into some trouble at school today, Moms probably gonna bail him out of the principals prison, then go plant some flowers at the church to relax or some girly ass shit of the sort.” Casey shrugged, leading the crew through the hallway and into his room. “If my brother does come home tonight, I wouldn’t worry about him. He’s done far worse shit than what we’re doing tonight.”  
  
Caseys room was in similar state as the rest of the house. He looked like he hadn’t changed his bed sheets in years and he didn’t really have a dresser. It was more of a mountain of clothes in the corner that he’d throw on when he felt like it.  
  
The man in question rolled onto his bed and pulled out a list of names sloppily written onto a piece of notebook paper that had been ripped in half. He set it down on the stool next to his bed that he used as a nightstand, and turned it around to face them.  
  
“So here’s the plan. We’ve got pizza on the way, we’re gonna eat until we drop dead and or until my dad leaves to go hang with Mr. Scriggins. Plan?”  
  
Gregg and Mae both agreed. They pumped their fists in the air and howled at the ceiling until Casey's dad yelled at them.

  


It was almost midnight when the doorbell rang. The three looked at each other, Casey having a slice of pizza still hanging out of his mouth. Then they all got up and hid around the corner, and peaked their heads out.  
Mr. Scriggins was standing in the doorway. He looked like he crawled his way straight out of hell. Dry cracked skin, ripped overalls stained with...something, and the fattest cigarette Mae had ever laid eyes on in his mouth. He was already drinking, and had two of his buddies behind him who were in similar state.  
  
The four of them talked in the doorway for an eternity before Mr. Hartley rifled through the clothes piled up on the couch and found a jacket.  
  
Then Mr. Hartley left and the second he did, Mae and Gregg fought over who got the bathroom first so they could change into their crime gear. “Crime gear” being just black or dark clothes.  
  
Eventually Mae won the rights for the bathroom and Gregg begrudgingly changed in the kitchen with all the blinds drawn.  
  
Mae wore a threadbare black shirt with a large white ‘X’ printed on it tucked into grey pants that were rolled up just above her dark leather boots that were peeling back to reveal it’s grey fabric insides.  
  
“I’ve got an itch for destruction and a Louisville Slugger in my hands. Lets go!” Mae yelled, exiting the bathroom and banging her fist against the door to Caseys room.  
  
Casey opened the door. He was basically just wearing his usual outfit of the classic black sweater, dark ripped blue jeans, and white vans that had been spray painted black and the ugliest shade of orange.  
  
Gregg came out next looking like he was born for tonight. He had on a black jean jacket with a yowling coyote embroidered on the front side pocket. What was most impressive about the getup was that he managed to find a jacket, pants, and fingerless gloves that were all a matching shade of black.  
  
“Holy shit, dude.” Casey threw his head back and laughed, ”Leave it to the gay guy to one up all of us in fashion.”  
  
“And nobody is surprised.” Mae added.  
  
“What can I say? it’s a talent.” Gregg put his hands on his hips and posed. “Jen literally makes clothes when she gets bored sometimes. She’s responsible for like- a good half of my wardrobe.”  
  
“I’m commissioning your cousin with all my money after tonight.” Mae said. Gregg just laughed.  
  
“In other news, let's lay out our battle plan here.” Casey kicked the glass bottles on the coffee table in their living room down and pulled up a chair.“Mr. Penderson is first on our list, but the only problem with that is that he’s literally Maes next door neighbor-”  
  
“Everyone in my house should be asleep by now. It’s like. Almost 1 AM, dude.” Mae assured.  
  
“Okay, but everyone knows that your granddad can be a little eclectic when it comes to sleep. And actually most other things, too.” Gregg mentioned.  
  
Mae rested her elbows on the table and laughed “Are you kidding me? If my granddad caught us egging Mr. Pendersons house, he might join us. He knows true justice when he sees it.”  
  
“You better hope so, because Penderson is first. The next two will be easy but Mr. Yakovich has a pretty nasty dog that I think we can work around.”  
  
“Augh, Casey, you know how I feel about dogs.” Mae shivered, rubbing a thumb over her deformed ear.  
  
When they had first met Mae, Casey and Gregg were just getting into crimes and the idea of being a criminal. They kept giving each other challenges and one day Mae got one they all knew was a bad idea. The challenge was to break into the junkyard just outside of town and steal something from the old man who lived there. Well, one thing led to another and Gregg and Casey were hauling the junkyards guard dog off of Mae. The dog had had a lock on Mae’s ear and Casey and Gregg only managed to get the dog off of her after it had taken a good chunk of her ear off.  
  
It had gotten infected pretty quickly, and now her ear had permanent deep notches and bumps where the growing skin had bunched up. It was pretty unpleasant to look at.  
  
“I know, B, you can sit that one out if you wanna. The whole dog thing was definitely our fault, so.” Casey added an awkward laugh, clearly still feeling guilty about it.  
  
“Yeah, Mae, we can handle it no problem. So, hey, what about the Scriggins?” Gregg asked, tapping the name on Caseys paper.  
  
“That’s got to be an in and out fast job. They’ve got that stupid wine cellar that they’re so proud of that I think we’re gonna hit. If we’re lucky they won’t even realize it’s been wrecked until days after we’re gone.” Casey crumpled up the paper and tossed it over his shoulder “So. Next thing: i’ve got a backpack full of packages of a dozen eggs and several bottles of spray paint. I call eggs so who wants spray paint duty.”  
  
“Casey, dude, I haven’t gotten to break anything in so long. I really need this.” Mae said, patting her bat like a pet.  
  
“Mae, do you think if you threw an egg in the air you could blast it against a wall. Like hit it with the bat.” Gregg suggested.  
  
“Oh my god, Gregg, you’re a genius. I’m doing that.” Mae replied.  
  
“You’re both just gonna get covered in egg junk but okay.” Casey laughed, then stood up and grabbed the backpack in question and hauled it over his shoulder. “So. Crime time?”  
  
“Crime time!” Gregg and Mae pumped their fists in the air and the three howled out the door.

  


By the end of the hour, the three had spray painted targets on houses and held a contest to see how many eggs they could nail in the circle. Mae participated in the egging a little, but mostly occupied herself with turning the most breakable thing in the yard into a fine dust. Such things included the trashy plastic birdbath outside Mr. Pendersons home, the small stone statue of some religious figure in the Hudsons garden, and a faded plastic flamingo in front of the Yakovichs home so she didn’t have to go inside the gate and deal with their dog.  
  
The three got close once or twice to getting caught but Casey had meticulously planned out their hitlist to be mostly old men who couldn’t outrun them if they tried.  
  
Casey Hartley was born to be a criminal and everyone in town knew it.  
  
Casey had a bounce in his step at this point at night. They had a long walk to go before they reached the Scriggins home, since it was on the other side of town. After the recent successes, the feeling was that this night was going to go better than ever before planned. Which meant it could only go wrong from here.  
  
Gregg stopped walking for a moment “I just had a thought.” he said, “We’re doing this because someone got murdered. Should we be worried about running into- I dunno- a murderer?”  
  
Mae looked at Casey who just shrugged in response “Wouldn’t be fun if there wasn’t danger.”  
  
“Says the guy who earlier today said he didn’t want to get shot.” Gregg crossed his arms, but they started walking again.  
  
“Okay, yeah, but a murderer wouldn’t wanna kill a bunch of kids. Even if they did come after us, we’ve got a maniac with a bat, The Lee family’s youngest who has at least three knives on him at all times, and me who’s basically a master criminal.” Casey pointed out, reaching over Greggs shoulder and grabbing a knife from out of his jacket. He brought most of his knives for sharing purposes, so Gregg didn’t make a move to get it back.  
  
“The denialist always dies, Casey. In every horror movie ever made.” Mae said.  
  
“Guess i’ll just die, then.” Casey laughed.  
  
“Prepare to get your guts shoveled, Hartley.” Mae said and poked him in the stomach with her bat.  
  
“Maybe we’ll find a dead body instead of the murderer.” Gregg brought up.  
  
“That’d be a million times cooler.” Mae said.  
  
“You’re super gross, dude.” Gregg responded.  
  
A second later a glass bottle flew down from somewhere on the roofs of the nearby empty buildings. It shattered against the concrete, soaking Gregg and Maes pants with a mysterious liquid that everyone could reasonably assume was alcohol. Several voices laughed above them.  
  
They looked up to see three people with legs dangling off the edge of the roof, all three of their faces lit by the faint red glow off the end of their cigarettes.  
  
“Augh, Casey, I thought you said we wouldn’t run into Steve tonight?” Mae scrunched up her nose.  
  
“I said we probably wouldn’t. I forget the bastard is everywhere.” Casey grunted.  
  
The three kids jumped off of the roof, sliding down drainage pipes or climbing from window to window until they were on ground level.  
  
Steve Scriggins himself was only a junior but rumor has it he had been held back a year because he was huge. He looked like a senior, and was generally a threatening and foreboding figure.  
  
“Heya, ladies, nice night huh?” Steve said, a little too close for comfort.  
  
“Howdy and I gotta agree, it’s gorgeous out. What a night to waste on weed. Y’all stink.” Casey grumbled, shoving Steve away as he was clearly circling the group to get to Mae. The two guys behind Steve laughed.  
  
“Woah there, i’m just being nice. Consider this a warning from a good samaritan. Haven’t you heard someone died out in the woods recently?” Steve took his cigarette out of his mouth and turned his wrist slowly. There was a thick, slow drawl to his words. “And y’know. I happen to know somebody named Killer, so I figured- y’know- it’s kinda a two plus two sorta thing. Yeah. Yeah we figured we’d come and just- y’know- check it out?”  
  
Gregg and Casey at this point had a routine they went through every time somebody called Mae “Killer”. They stepped together as a sort of human shield for Mae, and would usually give the person a few chances to leave before they pulled knives or started throwing fists. But Steve was huge, and definitely high, and had buddies. Wordlessly the knives came out first thing.  
  
Three more knives appeared in the hands of Steve and his gang out of pockets and boots alike. A horrible shiver ran up Maes spine at the sight of her friends threatening a group older and larger than them.  
  
Mae couldn’t help the series of images that flooded her mind of Steve and his gang cutting up Gregg and Casey and then her. It was such a vivid image, Mae wanted to throw up.  
  
Functioning on instinct, Mae took a few steps back then took a running start. She barreled straight through the small gap between Gregg and Caseys shoulders, bat high above her head. With a firm yell she brought the bat across hard across Steves jaw.  
  
He immediately fell over with the force and surprise of the attack. One of his junkie friends took a potshot and luckily landed a thin slice across Maes forearm. Gregg appeared at her side and kicked him in the gut until he fell back. The third one ran straight at Casey and he ducked straight down and stabbed his knife through the crooks shoe.  
  
By the time Steve had sat backup, Mae, Gregg, and Casey were running down the street as fast as they could. They jumped onto a trashcan and launched themselves over a picket fence, then were gone from view. Leaving Steve and his gang in a pile on the street listening to the three brats laugh and howl into the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun chapter. I liked getting to write about Maes home life with granddad and I do it many a time in some other wip stories I've got going. Also don't worry this is not the last you'll see of Jen, I love her too much to let her go that easy. 
> 
> Friendly reminder that my Tumblr is Autumnmountainsart and my Instagram is Its.Mar.Time and you should come say hello ;)


	3. CHAPTER THREE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS: Shock/PTSD, stressful situations, lots and lots of fire, blood. Also Steve is momentarily kind of a creep but that's pretty minor. And of course; Crime.

## KINDLED IN CIGARETTE SMOKE

“Hey, Gregg, Sorry about your knife. I definitely left it in that guys foot.” Casey mentioned, breathing heavily from running as they walked into the rundown part of the neighborhood where the Scriggins lived.  
  
“No hard feelings, I brought extras.” Gregg laughed, pulling his third knife of the night out of his boot and handing it to Casey.  
  
“Oh cool.” Casey said and pocketed the knife. “Anyways, that was metal as hell, dudes.”  
  
“I’ve always wanted to do that.” Mae said, swinging her bat through the air, finding comfort in the sound of wind ripping around it. “I almost feel kinda bad that Scriggins is next on the list.”  
  
“You do?” Gregg raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
“I said almost,” Mae assured, finally resting her bat over her shoulder. As soon as she said it, the Scriggins house crested the horizon silhouetted by the night sky like a haunted house in an old black and white movie.  
  
The three exchanged glances, then ran up to the house giggling with anticipation.  
  
Every window was dark. The garage door was open, and the cars that Mr. Scriggins worked on in his freetime sat unattended and just asking for a paint job from the three. The paint on the house was peeling, and shingles on the roof were falling off in patches. It was surprising that the house didn’t fall into the basement on it’s rickety termite ridden foundation. The porch was lopsided, with one of its support beams bending dangerously and it took all of Maes willpower not to hit it with her bat and knock the whole thing down.  
  
The Scriggins were very similar to the Hartleys in many ways. The main difference between them was that the Hartleys felt bad about the lifestyle they were living. The Scriggins certainly did not.  
  
And Casey knew what would hit hard and went straight for the wine cellar. It was an old storm shelter that was about thirty feet out from the house, right in front of the woods behind the property. The archaic looking steel and wood doors were latched shut with a simple padlock. The cellar was one of the few things the Scriggins owned that they didn’t keep looking like trash.  
  
“I bet I could knock that right off.” Mae said, bringing her bat up.  
  
“Nope, nope, nope. I’ve got better plans. We’re not even bringing that thing in there.”  
  
“Oh, hell, no i’m sleeping with this bat tonight.” Mae retorted, hugging her bat close to her.  
  
“Trust me, trust me, I’ve got something special I saved for this moment and we’re gonna need both hands to carry this stuff down.” Casey said with the biggest grin. Gregg and Mae smiled back, and promptly dropped their stuff.  
  
It took Gregg maybe two minutes flat to get it open. After a whispered celebration, Casey revealed his secret.  
  
He opened up the middle pouch of his backpack that hadn’t been opened that night yet. Inside was several dozen cans of Silly String. There was an audible gasp of realization from Mae and Gregg, that turned into whoops of laughter as they both took handfuls of the cans and marched down into the cellar.  
  
Casey closed the doors with his foot and they slammed shut much harder and louder than anticipated, with a loud creak afterwards that lingered in the air. The three stood in silence for a moment, listening into the night to make sure nobody heard it. When no noise was heard, they went on about their business.  
  
Casey lit a cigarette, blew out a small puff and hit the lights. The cellar was massive. The shelves that should’ve been filled with rations were covered with every bottle of wine and alcohol imaginable. Some shelves were stylishly (and precariously) hung by strings from the ceiling to make them almost look like they were floating. The floor was covered in wooden floorboards that gave the room a warm orange feeling.  
  
"This one room is nicer than my whole house." Gregg gasped, looking around.  
"I feel like I just stepped into real life El Dorado. Except with a lot more alcohol." Mae concurred.  
Gregg and Mae looked at Casey. He put his hands on his hips and said “Alright, lets makes some chaos.”  
  
The three of them grabbed a can from their pile and went to work. They ran around the cellar, covering the shelves and walls with long strands of the sticky goop. Eventually Gregg accidentally sprayed Mae with a long orange strand which was the beginning of the Silly String war.  
  
“You asses! You got this shit on my cigarette!” Casey laughed, taking the cigarette out of his mouth.  
  
“This is our anti smoking campaign!” Mae retorted, emptying her can on Caseys hair. Close to cry laughing, Casey pulled the string out of his hair and threw it over his shoulder. He discarded his cigarette into a nearby bin, and ran after Mae until his can was emptied as well. Once they were both emptied they settled for wrestling across the floor instead.  
  
In a moment Gregg rounded the corner with a battle cry and a can in either hand, he sprayed the two with both cans until they both managed to scramble up.  
  
Mae decided to take a more direct approach and ran straight at Gregg, tackling him to the ground too. Casey screamed “Dogpile!” and threw his whole body weight down onto them, leaving the three in a giant pile, shuddering with laughter.  
  
On the top of the pile Casey shook his head and managed to say “I love you guys.” mostly comprehensible.  
  
“Aw! That’s the nicest thing that you’ve ever said to us!” Mae said.  
  
“I’d love you guys a whole lot more if I wasn’t on the bottom of the pile.” Gregg gasped, shoving the two off of him. “Also, i’m out of Silly String.”  
  
“Way to deflect my bleeding heart, Gregg." Casey laughed, staggering up to his feet. "I might have more cans in my backpack up the stairs.”  
  
“You’re feelings mean nothing to the art of crime!” Gregg called over his shoulder, walking up to the trap door. He shoved once, then twice, each time there was a strange sound of metal creaking and then a loud clank.  
  
Mae finally got up, with a bad feeling in her gut as Gregg slammed his whole body into the door and it didn’t budge.  
  
“Okay. Small problem.” Gregg said, putting his hands up and walking back down the stairs. “I think that we closed the doors too hard and the bar holding the door shut snapped back into place.”  
  
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Casey whined, jogging over to the cellar door. The two of them shoved but the door still wouldn’t budge open.  
  
“Gregg, didn’t Jen say to call her if we got into trouble?” Mae suggested.  
  
“Yeah, on a goddamn landline because Possum Springs has no signal. There’s definitely not a landline down here, Mae!” Gregg yelled, throwing his hands in the air.  
  
“Geez! Sorry!” Mae yelled back, crossing her arms.  
  
“Okay, let's not argue about this.” Casey interrupted and walked back towards Mae. “How much time do we have until Mr. Scriggins is supposed to be home?”  
  
Gregg pulled out his phone from his pocket. With no signal, it was totally useless for anything other than checking the time and playing Tetris. “Maybe five minutes until the Reckoning. According to the plan we’re supposed to be leaving right now.”  
  
"Oh my god we're going to die in Steve goddamn Scriggins' basement." Mae groaned.  
Casey ran his fingers through his hair and growled “Gregg, keep pushing and Mae and I’ll see if we can find something to bust it open with.”  
  
“It’s a wine cellar, Casey, the only thing here his wine! Plus you made me leave my bat up there so I could carry a metric ton of Silly String down here!” Mae said.  
  
“Sorry! Just grab the biggest bottle of wine you can and lets bust the stupid door open!” Casey retorted.  
  
That feeling in Maes gut was only getting worse by the time they both realized the door wasn’t their biggest problem.  
  
There was a small pop from the wall of the room. Mae and Casey stopped arguing immediately and whipped around.  
  
Across the room sat the trash bin Casey had discarded his lit cigarette in. The bin had been covered in Silly String, one of those strands led up to one of the shelves hanging by a string. And it was on fire.  
For the second time tonight Mae couldn't help but imagine the horrible end to the two of them burning alive. Determined to keep that from happening, Mae grabbed Casey around the waist and threw the two of them onto the ground as the string holding the shelf up snapped and sent alcohol down into the trash bin causing a small explosion and covering the floor with burning alcohol.  
  
The explosion was just enough to cause one of the standing shelves to fall, creating even more room for the fire to spread both outwards and upwards.  
  
Mae and Casey had a wall of fire and broken glass bottles between them and Gregg and the exit that they still couldn’t get open. And the floor was wood, and the fire was spreading.

  


Molly was an officer. An officer of the law who as a kid always knew she’d be a fighter until the day she died. She figured she’d always be a woman of righteousness and justice. And she figured her job would lead her to slightly more heroic places than hauling three flailing, sobbing, teenagers high out of their minds off the dirt ground at three in the morning.  
  
Steve Scriggins and his gang were out by the tracks, lying on their backs. They looked like they were high on a lot more than weed and Molly would put money on it.  
  
“They do this pretty often. I’m kinda tired of it, at this point. They keep threatening me if a call the police on them, but seeing them tonight, I got a hunch they won’t remember this in the morning,” Jen said. She was standing next to Molly. She had filed the complaint on them, and was helping haul their mostly unconscious bodies into the police car.  
  
“Well, luckily for you, I am going to have to hold them in a cell for a while. They wont be back out here in the next couple days.” Molly sighed, grabbing another kid by the shoulders while Jen hefted up the legs.  
  
“Woah, really? I didn’t think you did that for pot. Isn’t it just like- a fine?” Jen asked.  
  
“Yeah, well at least one of these three kids could be an accessory to a much bigger crime,” was all Molly said on the matter. But much to her surprise, Jen figured out exactly what she meant.  
  
Molly had been one of the officers at court when Mama Lee had sued her ex husbands brother for custody over Jen. Jen was much skinnier back then, she had been so much smaller too. Now she was eighteen, strong enough to help Molly and graduating soon. Molly felt almost the same pride a mother would in seeing her. She got similar feelings with Mae, Gregg, and Casey when she saw them doing anything not completely illegal. A rare occasion.  
  
“Wait, the murder? Is that what its about?” Jen said, mouth agape.  
  
Molly blinked “Um. Wow, I’m surprised. I didn’t expect you to get that. Yes, Mr. Scriggins is our lead suspect in the murder, how in the hell did you associate this to murder?”  
  
Jen waved a hand dismissively “oh, Gregg told me about it. Said he got caught at a crime scene with Mae and Casey yesterday.”  
  
Molly shut the car door and sighed, “should’ve figured.” she said, “I appreciate your help, Jen, do you need a ride home?”  
  
“Yes, ma’am, that’d be fantastic.” Jen exclaimed, jumping up onto her toes.  
  
“No need to call me ma’am, Jen, you know my name.” Molly said, watching Jen get into the passenger side as Molly walked around to get into the driver seat.  
  
“Mama says it’s just politeness. Not a lot of people bother to be polite nowadays, i’ve discovered.” Jen stated, buckling her seatbelt as the car started into motion.  
  
“Well give Mama my thanks when you’re home.” Molly said. Jen nodded, and clicked the radio on.  
  
The drive to the Lee house was short, about ten minutes or so. But it only took five for Steve Scriggins in the back seat to wake up.  
  
Jen let out a startled yelp that nearly caused Molly to swerve off the road when Steve slammed his foot into the barrier between the front seat and back seat.  
  
“Turn that shit off, you’re giving me a headache.” His voice came from the backseat muffled by the gate between them.  
  
Molly sighed “sorry, Jen, i’m gonna have to take these kids to the station before I can get you home.”  
  
“Oh no problem at all, It looks like you’ll need help anyways!” Jen said, cracking her knuckles.  
  
“Jen, I can’t ask you to do that. Like- I legally cannot.”  
  
“That’s okay, too! It’s a personal decision I am consciously making right now, so nobody can hold it against you if anything happens to me!”  
  
Molly started to say something but Steve slammed his face against the plastic and squinted through it at Jen.  
  
“Oh shit, boys, Greggs hot sister is here.” Steve said, slurring on his words like a drunk and laughing, “Fun fact: I punched your brother tonight.”  
  
Jen had started to grumble something about not being his sister, but completely changed course when she heard his last sentence.  
  
“You what?” Jen whipped around.  
  
“Sit back, Jen, he’s high off his ass he definitely didn’t even see Gregg tonight.”  
  
“Bullshit! He came at my boys after Mae just completely out of the blue jumped us! Him and that other little bitch- Casey or whatever. We totally kicked their asses.”  
  
Molly growled but before she could say anything Jen jumped in.  
  
“Molly, I dropped off Gregg at Casey's house yesterday evening for a sleepover. Mae was there too.” She looked genuinely worried.  
  
Molly could imagine those three kids getting into any amount of trouble, and with Mae being...prone to violence...it wasn’t that much of a stretch that she got into a fight with Scriggins.  
  
With a sigh Molly said “Hold on.” and pressed her foot down on the gas.

  


“Casey, do you think if we make it across the fire to Greggs side of the room, all three of us would be enough to shove that trapdoor open?” Mae yelled to Casey. They were back to back, shying away from the fire closing in around them.  
  
At this point, the fire had caught most of the unfortunately wooden shelving and seemed to be reacting to the Silly String they had caked the shelves with as well. The fire that had overtaken the fallen shelf was massive, and burned the skin just to get near it.  
  
Casey didn’t respond. He was shaking like a leaf and holding onto Maes hand like if he let go they'd both fall straight into the fire.  
  
“Casey! Hey man, we gotta get out of this!” Mae squeezed his hand and shook it.  
  
Still, Casey didn’t respond. He just shook his head.  
  
“Casey-!” Mae began  
  
“We’d never make it across, Mae! Look at that fireball! We’d both be walking pork roasts by the time we made it across and dead by the time we even made it to the door!” Casey gasped like it hurt to speak.  
  
Mae always had this delusion that Casey was invincible, and he always made it so believable. Mae clearly had forgotten that he was just a kid just like her. She wished she hadn’t turned her head enough to see his face. Maes invincible Casey Hartley was crying.  
  
The worrying thing about this was that Casey Hartley got into equally horrible situations periodically. She’d known Casey since 4th grade and was actively hanging out with him since 7th. She’d never seen him cry before.  
  
Mae was too worked up to cry and she quickly realized someone was going to have to make an adult decision or they were all going to bake in the wine cellar they’d transformed into a oven alight with various flammable substances.  
  
Gregg picked up one of the cans of Silly String and read the back, then held it above his head angrily.  
  
“What the hell is in this shit that makes it so flammable! It literally has a warning on the back!” Gregg yelled, slamming the empty can on the ground.  
  
He was in a panic. Mostly, because at this point he couldn’t go up the stairs to futz with the trapdoor anymore because it was the highest point in the room and all the smoke was accumulating there. Gregg could stand up there for only a few seconds before being unable to breathe.  
  
But above that, he was totally useless to help Mae and Casey whose circle of safe wood was slowly growing smaller, and on top of that, above them was another hanging shelf that was slowly catching. If that fell before he could get them out- he couldn’t bare to finish that thought.  
  
But what could he do? He couldn’t stand to just stand there, but that’s all he could do. Stand and look at Casey and Mae, back to back, coughing on smoke. He was coughing just as much, but it sounded like a nightmare coming from them.  
  
Above him he heard the sound of the trap door banging, a second later he almost burst into tears at hearing Jen yell “Gregg? Shit, tell me you’re not down there! This thing is smoking a ton!”  
  
“Oh my god, Jen! Mae and Casey are here too, call the police or something!” Gregg yelled, tripping up the stairs, coughing on the smoke.  
  
“The police already know, they’re dealing with something else right now though!” Jen said. The door banged a few times. “How did you guys even- urh!-do this?” After a moment of tugging from Jen and pushing from Gregg, the door finally gave and Gregg fell forward, hacking. He sprawled himself out on the grass, breathing the fresh air.  
  
Jen wanted to hug him, but a sharp yelp from inside the cellar drew her attention back to the blaze inside. She brought her shirt up over her nose and ran inside the cellar.  
  
Casey and Mae had their backs against the wall, clinging onto each other. They were both watching the shelf above them as it started to creak.  
  
Jen assessed the situation then cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled over the roar of the fire between them “You have to jump!”  
  
“Are you crazy? Look at the size of that! We’re not going to be able to make that jump!” Mae yelled. A high pitched whine escaped Caseys throat that hardly sounded natural.  
  
“Yeah okay, you guys are definitely both going to catch fire, but the door is open! Even if you do catch fire, the grass might still be damp enough to put you out!”  
  
“Might be?” Mae exclaimed.  
  
“If you stay where you are, you’re not going to live any longer!” Jen cried back.  
  
Mae realized she was right. The shelf above them wasn’t going to last more than a minute longer, and when that fell- images of her and Casey going up in flames filled her mind. She shook her head and tried to pull Casey off the wall, no time to be scared.  
  
Casey yanked her right back to the wall.  
  
“Casey, dude, she’s right, this is our only chance of getting out of here! I really don’t want to die tonight and I know neither do you!”  
  
Caseys eyes looked glazed over. He never replied or took his eyes off the fire. Silent as the grave.  
  
Mae realized the adult decision that had to be made. She wrapped both arms around Caseys midsection and hefted him over her shoulder, his nails dug into her back as she took a running leap straight into the blaze.  
  
Immediately she knew she was on fire. It felt like a thousand little needles jabbed into her legs and inject hot lava into her blood. She felt like she was actually melting and every step was like wading through boiling water. But it was quick, in two or three quick yet painful bounds, she was to Jen. She moved out of the way and watched Mae, half on fire, carrying a horribly quiet Casey, sprint up the stairs.  
  
By the time Jen had rejoined them upstairs, Gregg had taken off his jacket and smothered the fire off of Mae. She was bleeding and probably needed to go to a hospital, but was alive and had probably saved Casey from the worst of the damage.  
  
The man in question choked out a sob, finally making a sound and snapping out of whatever trance he had been in, and wrapped his arms around Mae, sobbing into her shoulder. Then he grabbed Gregg by the collar and pulled him into the embrace as well.  
  
Jen knew they would’ve stayed there all night. But unfortunately a moment later, a pair of car headlights shone directly on the four of them and the smoke billowing out of the cellar.  
  
Mr. Scriggins stepped out of his truck, with wide eyes he looked at the three kids on the ground, then at Jen, then at the bright orange flames coming out of his wine cellar. He disappeared back into his truck for a moment, then appeared with a shotgun in his hands. He cocked it and aimed it directly at them.  
  
Casey yelled, with the authority of a military general, “scatter!” and took off in one direction then did a sharp 90 degree turn towards the woods. Mae ran a good ten feet away from them but also curved her trajectory into the woods. Gregg grabbed Jen by the wrist and made a beeline for the woods. Eventually he let go and Jen ended up just barely behind him, shielding her head as a tree next to her exploded with buckshot.  
  
The four ran through the dark, avoiding death once, only to meet it again and escape once more. To the three of them, the shotgun and the distant police sirens beautifully constructed a joke.  
  
Into the night, they ran, zig zagging around trees, launching over rocks and jumping off of logs to catch as much air as possible despite being sore to the bone. They ran through the woods and into the field adjacent to it, they were safe, but they just kept running, until the frogs and crickets couldn’t drown out their laughing.  
  
Then three kids threw their heads back and started howling, and after a moment Jen did too.  
  
Everything healed with time, so what was the point of mourning their lost belongings or paying attention to the fire and pain.  
  
In due time, everything would be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I planned on ending the whole story here but I think i'll add the epilogue because I don't think it's fair to end it even though I just said "Mae might need to go to the hospital but w/e, y'know?"  
> In other news I have plans to make more of these stories and little tidbits of their highschool years. I'm currently working on freshman year which is basically the prelude to this story. Specifically the first chapter, at least. I won't release any details or time frame of when I might post it but i'd bet sometime after school ends.


	4. EPILOGUE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS: PTSD, Drugs. This chapter is 90% dialogue so everything mentioned here was only mentioned and never illustrated.

## I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH, MAE

  
“Mae, I can buy you some lotion for that, it won’t scar that way.” Candy was trying to explain.  
  
“Why would I want that? Look at how cool this scar will be!” Mae retorted, sticking her leg up on the dashboard of her mom's car.  
  
They were just leaving the hospital where Mae had been given some fairly extensive burn treatment to her legs. She had a few stitches in her ankles and lower calf where she’d gotten caught by broken glass, but her cracked, burnt, and bleeding skin had been well taken care of and she’d recover fully within the next couple of weeks.  
  
The only problem with being at the hospital is that the nearest one was just under an hour drive to and fro. An amount of time just long enough to go a little stir crazy in a car.  
  
“Suit yourself.” Candy sighed in defeat, and swatted Maes feet down from her dashboard, “anywho, I heard Mr. Scriggins was arrested yesterday.”  
  
“For shooting at literal children with a shotgun or for murder?” Mae asked.  
  
“According to your aunt there’s insufficient evidence to convict him of murder, but he is going to prison for a few years for child endangerment.” Candy said “Probably a few years less than he really deserves, but oh well. Molly seems to be pretty upset about it though.”  
  
“Molly's always upset.” Mae said.  
  
“Very true.” Candy laughed.  
  
“Oh hey, did you hear back from Gregg and Casey?” Mae asked.  
  
“Your father said they came by earlier today to ask how your legs were. They seemed pretty worried.”  
  
“Psh, I doubt that. They saw me sprinting through the woods maybe ten whole seconds later.”  
  
“That’s...probably not something you should be sound so proud about.  
  
“Probably not. But I was like a gazelle, mom. A wild animal. It was awesome.”  
  
“You’re too much like me when I was younger. Hopefully one day you’ll grow out of it.” Candy said.  
  
“Not likely.” Mae retorted.  
  
“Not likely at all.” Candy confided with a sigh.  
  
The rest of the ride home was pretty easy, and as soon as she got home she marched up to her room and collapsed on her bed. Not long after, granddad showed up and sat at the foot of the bed, demanding she tell him a story. Specifically the story of last night and she was glad to give it. Now that it was over, it all made a pretty good story.  
  
It took a lot of coaxing from her parents to get granddad to finally leave Mae alone so she could rest. She considered getting onto her computer for a while, but found herself falling asleep before she could even get the chance.

 

It was dusk when she woke up. Naturally, she would’ve slept until midday tomorrow, but there was a knock on her bedroom window. Then another and another.  
  
Eventually Mae had to get up and look outside. In her yard, illuminated just barely by the sunset, was the familiar shape of Casey. He threw a pebble at her window, and waved when she finally noticed him.  
  
Mae sighed and hopped off her bed- oh wow, her legs were very sore- and crept down the stairs. The only person who was still awake at this point in time was granddad who slept on the couch. He had a blanket and a pillow hauled out onto the couch, and the TV was on implying he was still awake.  
  
“Tell Casey he can ring the doorbell next time.” He grumbled as Mae walked by. Sometimes Mae wondered how he knew the things he knew. There was a joke amongst the house that “granddad saw all” but sometimes Mae wondered how true that was.  
  
She just gave him a suspicious side eye before quietly opening and closing the door.  
  
Casey was outside in that unnatural black tank top. He was leaning against the side of the house, looking totally level headed and normal.  
  
“Hey, dude, you’re legs dead yet?” Casey said, seeing her walk out.  
  
“Still alive and kickin thus far.” Mae replied, giving a little kick for emphasis.  
  
He laughed, and it became kind of an awkward laugh as there was a moment of silence.  
  
Casey took a deep breath, “I think I seriously owe you an apology.”  
  
Mae blinked a few times, “For what? You didn't do anything, man.”  
  
“No, I definitely played chicken on you back in the cellar. I dunno what happened, I saw the fire and a freaked the hell out.” Casey confided.  
  
“Yeah, I noticed. You started crying.” Mae replied, starting to get concerned. “Are you...okay?”  
  
Casey took a long moment to think about how to answer. “Yeah. I am now. Still kinda messed up that we literally nearly died.”  
  
Mae laughed, “I’m not complaining. Ever heard ‘bad decisions make good stories’?”  
  
“Pft. Yeah I guess.” Casey shifted uncomfortably for a moment “So. I think I know why I freaked out like that though.”  
  
Automatically, Maes eyebrows knit together. She sensed a story coming and walked over to sit against the wall next to him. He was still standing, but looked unsteady.  
  
“Y’know how my family is kinda a disaster?” Casey said, looking down at Mae, who only nodded in response. “Well, there’s a couple reasons for that. Number one problem being my family is highly prone to addiction after generations of smoking and using drugs. When I was a kid, I really tried to do what my mom wanted, and steer clear of that stuff. But both of my older brothers were already wrapped up in it and I think I looked up to them too much.”  
  
“-wait. Both of? I thought you only had one older brother.” Mae asked.  
  
Casey didn’t respond.  
  
It clicked in Maes brain a moment later. “Oh my god.” she mumbled.  
  
“He was like. Fresh outta high school back then. He was taking care of my brother and I for the weekend while mom and dad took a vacation out of town, the little shits.” Casey sighed, and leaned his head back against the wall, “Well, big bro took a couple tabs of God only knows what, and got so high he dropped a match in the middle of the living room carpet. Just sat there too, as the house burned down around him. He was dead by the time the fire department showed up to haul me and my still living brother out of the collapsing house.”  
  
“Holy shit, Casey.” Mae said.  
  
He shrugged and continued, “mom and dad don’t talk about him at all. I think they think if we just forget about him it’ll hurt less or some sappy ass shit like that. I hadn’t thought about him in years. I saw the fire in that cellar and locked up. I was nine years old again, trapped in a burning house.” he faltered like he forgot what he was going to say next then said “I probably would’ve just sat and died in there if you hadn’t carried me out.”  
  
“Damn,” was all Mae could think to say for a time.  
  
Casey just laughed “Dude you look like a deer in headlights. Sorry I just hit you with my metaphorical truck.”  
  
“I am currently roadkill.” Mae concurred “Did you go see counseling or something?”  
  
“I mean. I went through a month of PTSD therapy, but it was expensive and my parents realized it wasn’t really doing much to help so they pulled me out.” He slid down the wall so he was finally sitting “I was so sure I was over it. Sorry, Mae, you kinda had to pick up my slack there.”  
  
“That’s what friends are for, though, right? Nobody can do everything alone. Sometimes you just gotta haul your friend over your shoulder and run out of a burning wine cellar. Metaphorically and literally, apparently.” Mae said.

Casey shrugged again. “Fine- just- do me a solid and don’t tell Gregg about this. I really want at least one of you to think i’m cool.”  
  
Mae elbowed him in the side, “Gregg will think you’re cool, regardless! I can promise you that.”  
  
Casey laughed but shifted uncomfortably.  
  
“But I promise I won’t tell him.” Mae finally said. “Anywho, you should go home before I pass out on you. I weigh approximately a metric ton.”  
  
Casey laughed and clumsily got up to his feet, following Mae. “Thanks, Mae. I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”  
  
“Hell yeah, dude.” Mae gave him a salute and slipped back into her house. A moment later he heard Casey sigh, and his footsteps disappear out of earshot.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist: Casey's sad!! Woahhhh!!!!
> 
> Anyways that's this story wrapped up. I think i'm gonna change this to series piece though because I started writing Freshman year as a prequel to this story. I planned to keep it to myself but now i'm wondering "Why??????". I enjoyed writing this story though. It's my first story that I think I ever actually finished writing? I plan on doing a story from their Freshman, Junior, and Senior year too. I promise i'll try to make those a little longer and more character inclusive. I'll try and make the next story some time in May maybe?


End file.
